Siraj, Krishna star as Gujarat open account with win over MI

Prasidh Krishna showed excellence in picking wickets with slower balls while Mohammed Siraj was proficient in his scrambled seam deliveries as Gujarat Titans got off the mark with a brilliant 36-run win over Mumbai Indians in Match 9 of the IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.

After opener B Sai Sudharsan continued his good start to the IPL 2025 season by top-scoring with 63 and helping GT post a huge 196/8, the bowlers were impressive in their plans to keep MI to 160/6 on a two-paced pitch.

While Krishna picked 2-18, Siraj took 2-34 while Kagiso Rabada and R Sai Kishore had a scalp each. Such was the impact of GT’s impressive bowling that Rashid Khan bowled only two overs.

For MI, barring Suryakumar Yadav, none of the batters got into any sort of serious batting rhythm, with the lack of execution in shots emerging as a big sore point. Chasing 197, Rohit Sharma began by clipping Siraj twice off his wrists. But Siraj bounced back immediately by getting a scrambled seam delivery to come in from outside the off-stump and castle Rohit through the gate for eight.

Even as Tilak Varma hit Rabada for three boundaries, Siraj struck again by having Ryan Rickleton chop onto his stumps off another scrambled seam delivery and uproot the off-stump, as the opener fell for six. Suryakumar brought out his trademark flick for six off Siraj before Tilak reversed an lbw decision on review as MI ended the power-play at 48/2.

Tilak and Suryakumar took a boundary each off Ishant Sharma, before the latter swept Kishore for four, though it also resulted in B Sai Sudharsan going off the field after clutching his left hamstring while trying to save that boundary. With the required run rate going just above 11, a scratchy Tilak looked to loft off Krishna, but the delivery’s slowness meant he was caught by long-on for 39.

Robin Minz couldn’t do much as an impact player, as he sliced to short third off Kishore. Suryakumar, after being knocked to the ground when Krishna’s short ball hit him on the helmet, couldn’t stay till the end as he holed out to long-off against the tall pacer’s slower delivery.

With Hardik Pandya’s painful stay of 17-ball 11 being brought to an end by Rabada, the big hits coming from Naman Dhir and Mitchell Santner were too late, as they couldn’t stop the five-time champions from going towards being winless against GT for the fourth straight time in Ahmedabad.

Previously, Sudharsan was instrumental in keeping MI aside in his 41-ball knock laced with four fours and two sixes. He was ably supported by Jos Buttler and captain Shubman Gill, making 39 and 38 respectively. For MI, who picked six wickets in the last five overs, Pandya, playing his first game of the competition, was the standout bowler with 2-29. But on a few occasions, MI were lax in their ground fielding and catching.

Inserted into batting first, Gill was on song from the word go, slashing Trent Boult over backward point for four, before pulling Deepak Chahar over square leg for another boundary. From the other end, Sudharsan stepped out for a majestic on-drive off Boult, going for four, before flicking him for another boundary.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s introduction didn’t give MI any relief as Sudharsan punched and lofted him for four and six respectively, before Gill swatted him through the leg-side for another boundary in a 15-run fifth over. Gill ended the power-play by dancing down the pitch to smash Chahar down the ground for six, before pulling him for four as the hosts amassed 66 runs in the six-over phase.

But MI managed to keep the duo in check by conceding two overs without a boundary, and that resulted in Gill pulling to deep square leg off a short ball from Pandya. Buttler got going by lofting and lapping Santner for six and four respectively, before pulling Pandya for another boundary. With Buttler and Sudharsan continuing to get boundaries, the second-wicket stand began to take a giant shape.

But Mujeeb struck to break the 51-run partnership by having Buttler caught behind off a wide outside off-stump delivery for 39, and was followed by Shahrukh Khan being caught in the deep off Pandya. After Sudharsan got his fifty in 33 balls, he and Sherfane Rutherford took a six each off Satyanarayana Raju.

Indo-Asian News Service

Brief scores:

Gujarat Titans 196/8 in 20 overs (B. Sai Sudharsan 63, Jos Buttler 39; Hardik Pandya 2-29) beat Mumbai Indians 160/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 48, Tilak Varma 39; Prasidh Krishna 2-18, Mohammed Siraj 2-34) by 36 runs.